August Julius Sundblom (22 June 1865 – 23 August 1945) was an editor and politician in

Åland Åland ( , ; ) is an Federacy, autonomous and Demilitarized zone, demilitarised region of Finland. Receiving its autonomy by a 1920 decision of the League of Nations, it is the smallest region of Finland by both area () and population (30,54 ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. Sundblom was born in Jomala, Åland. He founded '' Tidningen Åland'' in 1891, and was its editor-in-chief during 1891–1896 and 1921–1945. He was also editor-in-chief of '' Västra Nyland'' from 1895 until 1900, during which time he lived in

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

. He was a member of the

Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral and Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that ...

from 1907 to 1919, representing the

Swedish People's Party of Finland The Swedish People's Party of Finland (SPP; , SFP; , RKP) is a Finnish political party founded in 1906. Its primary aim is to represent the interests of the minority Swedish-speaking population of Finland. The party is currently a participant i ...

(SFP). Following

's declaration of independence in 1917, Sundblom became one of the leading figures of the Åland movement. The movement's goal of returning Åland to Sweden resulted in the Åland Crisis. Before the resolution of the crisis, Sundblom, along with Carl Björkman, was arrested by Finnish police and spent a few days in prison, accused of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

. On 2 September 1920, he was given a prison sentence of a year and a half, but he was pardoned by President Ståhlberg in October 1920. In 1922, Sundblom became the first Speaker of the Landstinget (later called ), which had been instituted in accordance with the Finnish Autonomy Act of 1920 as part of the solution to the Åland Crisis.

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